The Book of
Genesis 17
27 verses≈ 5 min3 peopleBSB
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In this chapter
Where we are
- 1–11BeginningsCreation, fall, flood, Babel
- 12–24AbrahamThe call and the promiseChapter 17
- 25–36Isaac and JacobThe promise passed on
- 37–50JosephGod meant it for good
Abraham to Father Many Nations
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty. Walk before Me and be blameless.
Genesis 17:1
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I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will multiply you exceedingly.”
Then Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, “As for Me, this is My covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations.
No longer will you be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.
Genesis 17:5
to be your God and the God of your descendants after you
Genesis 17:7
Pray
Walk before Me
God’s first words to Abram in thirteen years are a name and a call: “I am God Almighty. Walk before Me and be blameless.” Before He asks anything, He tells Abram who He is. Pray to God Almighty about the thing in your life that looks impossible. Then ask Him for a whole heart: to walk today as someone who lives in His sight.
The Covenant of Circumcision
God also said to Abraham, “You must keep My covenant—you and your descendants in the generations after you. This is My covenant with you and your descendants after you, which you are to keep: Every male among you must be circumcised. You are to circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and this will be a sign of the covenant between Me and you.
God
Generation after generation, every male must be circumcised when he is eight days old, including those born in your household and those purchased from a foreigner—even those who are not your offspring. Whether they are born in your household or purchased, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh will be an everlasting covenant.
But if any male is not circumcised, he will be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”
God
Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, do not call her Sarai, for her name is to be Sarah. And I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will descend from her.”
Abraham fell facedown. Then he laughed and said to himself, “Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah give birth at the age of ninety?”
Question
Quick question
God gives Abram a new name, and the name is a promise.
Why does God rename Abram “Abraham”?
Abraham
And Abraham said to God, “O that Ishmael might live under Your blessing!”
God
But God replied, “Your wife Sarah will indeed bear you a son, and you are to name him Isaac. I will establish My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard you, and I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He will become the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. But I will establish My covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this time next year.”
When He had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.
On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or purchased with his money—every male among the members of Abraham’s household—and he circumcised them, just as God had told him.
So Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised, and his son Ishmael was thirteen; Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised on the same day. And all the men of Abraham’s household—both servants born in his household and those purchased from foreigners—were circumcised with him.
0:32
Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain
Reflect
On that very day
God finished speaking, and “On that very day,” Genesis says, Abraham did it: every male in the household, “just as God had told him.” He was ninety-nine. He didn’t wait to understand everything or to see the son first. Is there something God has made plain to you that you keep putting off? Write down what obeying today would look like.
New names
Whiteboard
In one conversation God renames Abram and Sarai, gives the covenant its sign in the flesh, and names a son not yet born: “you are to name him Isaac.” Ishmael is blessed too, but the covenant runs through Isaac, whom “Sarah will bear to you at this time next year.”
You’ve experienced
Genesis 17
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A verse to carry with you
I am God Almighty. Walk before Me and be blameless.
Genesis 17:1
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